Loden had waited long enough, listening to the voice in his head, enduring the affront of the Nihil’s experiments. His mind wasn’t clear, not by a long shot, but it was more focused than it had been in months. He had known the moment had come before the voice in his head prompted him, when the Chadra-Fan had shuffled into the lab in his grubby white coat, muttering beneath his breath. The lights had gone off, the sounds silenced, and the scientist had limped into the circle of equipment, a hypodermic in his filthy hands.

“Release me.”

Loden wasn’t even sure if he had said the words out loud. The Chadra-Fan certainly ignored him, priming the hypo.

“You will release me.”

He had tried this so many times since his incarceration, trying desperately to influence the minds of Ro and his pet scientist, but it had never worked, not once.

This time felt different.

It is different. They are near. He is near.

He? Who did the voice mean? Surely not Ro. Surely …

And then Loden felt it, a presence he hadn’t felt since …

All at once he was back in the Nova, talking to Bell over the comm.

“I look forward to celebrating your elevation, Jedi Knight Zettifar.”

“Master … thank you.”

“I’m not your Master anymore, Bell. You’re a Jedi Knight.”

Bell. Could it really be him, here of all places? No. Surely not. It was too much to hope for.

Hope is all we have, Loden. You can do this. You have to.

Loden watched a drop of sedative squirt from the hypo as the scientist tested the needle.

“You. Will. Release. Me.”

The Chadra-Fan paused, a look of confusion crossing his batlike features as the syringe slipped from his fingers to clatter to the floor.

“I will … release you …”

Uttersond. That was his name. Loden could remember. He could remember everything they had done to him. All the tests. All the torture. It had to be Bell. Loden was drawing strength from his former Padawan, from their connection. Could Bell feel it, too?

The Chadra-Fan reached over to a nearby console, flicking a switch with a hesitant hand. The binders around Loden’s limbs snapped open, and he pitched forward, throwing out weak arms to break his fall.


Star Wars The High Republic The Rising Storm Chapter 69